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Do Personality Tests Really Help You at Work?

September 1, 2016

The economy may be moving and shaking, but competition in the workplace is more fierce than it’s ever been. Everyone is looking for a new way to stand out as more people vie for the jobs of their choice. Personality tests have long been used by employers to select potential candidates, but can they actually be of help to the employee?

Are personality tests valuable?

An expert from American Express, Marisella, said, “Personality and career aptitude tests are a great way to continue learning about yourself. The more you can learn about yourself and figure out how that aligns well with your career goals, the more success I think you will find. So many people fail to really evaluate which path is best for them to take in their career and I think it's truly just a lack of knowledge and clearly defining what their career goals are. If you understand where you want to be in 5, 10, or 20 years, it's extremely helpful because it allows you to figure out which paths you need to take in order to achieve those milestones. Investing in yourself and your development of knowledge is always going to add value to your development. Continue to be curious, ask questions, and find ways to learn about areas that can help you define those clear career goals you want to achieve.” Full quote

What are some good ways to utilize personality tests?

Typically, a good personality test will tell you a lot about yourself. Your tendencies, strengths, and weaknesses should all become clearer after you take a personality test. Bret an expert from Emerson said, “Self-Awareness and Self-Development become a differentiating factor in a career fairly early on. Those that continuously grow and develop and know their own motivators, skills, experiences and preferences will be able to better spend their developmental energy and time.” Full quote

As Bret stated, personality tests should foster increased self-awareness and self-development in a way that can be monumentally beneficial to your career.

What tests should you choose?

If you search ‘personality test’ on Google you’ll see more than 9 million results returned. Which of course leads to the question of what tests to choose and which ones to avoid. Mike from Avery Dennison these insights, “The validity of the test plays a major factor in whether or not the test can provide any valuable data. If you're taking a Facebook - "10 questions to determine your ideal job" type test, you're probably not going to get any information that is either reliable or valid. But, thoroughly-vetted and validated personality assessments might be able to provide some insight that is both accurate and helpful.” Full quote

We recommend taking one or more of the following tests to further your career:

Regardless of which test you choose, study your results. Only a fool looks in the mirror and forgets what he looks like a second later. Run your test results past close friends and family members to gain further insight into your personality. Once you do, you’ll obtain a wholly new understanding of what you can do to make headway in your career.